Sanco in W Cape throws weight behind Shikota

By Martha Qumba and Murray Williams

The Western Cape branch of the powerful SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has thrown its weight behind the breakaway "Shikota" political party, named last week as the Congress of the People.

But the Cape Argus has learned that certain Sanco members are actively campaigning in the Monwabisi informal settlement in Khayelitsha in an attempt to persuade people not to join Mbhazima Shilowa and Mosiuoa Lekota's new party.

They allegedly offered groceries as an incentive not to jump ship.

Search for peace ‘doomed’ by scramble for minerals in Congo

Rebels reject ceasefire until demands are met

Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent

Efforts to avert all-out war in eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo are doomed as long as negotiators ignore the role of the area’s lucrative mineral trade in fuelling the violence, according to anticorruption advocates and development officials.

They say that the deployment of thousands more United Nations peace-keepers to the region would be fruitless if armed groups continue to profit from the illegal trade with the connivance of international corporations.

Armed groups, including the Congolese Army and Tutsi rebels led by General Laurent Nkunda, have profited from the illegal trade of minerals such as coltan and tin ore for years, with British, Canadian, American and Belgian companies among their best clients.

Efforts to break that link have been stymied by Western governments unwilling to loosen their grip on the trade and made more difficult by the emergence of China as a big economic player on the continent. Rebels under General Nkunda’s control dismissed ceasefire calls made at yesterday’s emergency regional summit in Nairobi because, they said, it failed to address any of their demands – including the cancellation of a $9 billion (£6 billion) mining and infrastructure deal between China and the Congolese Government in Kinshasa.

SA manganese start-up delivers R223m to shareholders

By: Martin Creamer

Published on 7th November 2008

The women-led black-owned manganese start-up has managed to deliver R223-million to its shareholders, many of them near-mine communities and including disabled people, ahead of production.

At the same time, the black economically empowered (BEE) company is retaining R1-billion in the kitty to invest further in the joint venture it has managed to secure with the world’s biggest steel company, ArcelorMittal.

The joint venture is currently sinking a shaft in the Northern Cape, where it will mine manganese and also build a sinter plant, as well as building a smelter plant at Coega, near Port Elizabeth.

As a consequence, Kalagadi Resources, the associate company of which is Kalahari Resources, has evoked this comment from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) mining head Abel Malinga: “There are quite a number of things that can serve as an example to other BEE companies.”

The IDC has already received a dividend of R317-million for its take-up of 20% equity in the company – a return of more than 400% in 18 months.

“The model works,” says Kalagadi Manganese chairperson Daphne Mashile-Nkosi

Saudi Aramco Says Oil Price Falls May Curb Investment

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest state-owned oil company, said a further drop in crude oil prices may curtail investments needed to offset declining output in aging fields, while Oil & Natural Gas, India’s state oil explorer, said it may seek to acquire energy assets in Africa and Latin America to secure supplies.
Investment is also needed to expand production capacity to meet long-term demand growth, Chief Executive Officer Abdallah Jum’ah said in a handout distributed today at an industry summit in Beijing.

Journalists must be empowered to market Africa- Vice President

Vice President Alhaji Mahama at the weekend expressed the need for African journalists to be paid handsome salaries to empower them to project the image of Africa.

He said Europe should also create the platform to listen and tell the story of Africa in positive light, in order to dispel the prejudices Europeans had about Africans.

Alhaji Mahama was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Abuja, Nigeria at the end of the Fourth Africa Forum of the Partnership with Africa initiative, which aimed
at fostering development and co-operation between Africa and the industrialised nations.